FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he will not quit despite UEFA president Michel Platini telling him he must go for the good of the game.
Blatter called for Thursday’s emergency meeting of FIFA confederations over the corruption scandal that threatens to bring the game’s governing body crashing down ahead of their annual congress in Zurich. UEFA president Michel Platini has revealed he personally asked Blatter to resign on Thursday, but the FIFA chief refused. “This morning I took the car and went to see the FIFA president,” Platini told a news conference in Zurich. “I told him Sepp, man to man, face to face..Leave FIFA.
“I am asking you to leave FIFA – to step down because you are giving FIFA a terrible image. “It’s not easy to tell a friend that he must leave. I’m saying this with sadness, with tears in my eyes… There have been too many scandals.”
According to Platini, Blatter replied: “It’s too late. I can’t all of a sudden leave when congress starts this afternoon.” Platini even suggested that UEFA would be prepared to boycott a World Cup in order to force change at FIFA.
UEFA is apparently the only football association which asked Blatter to postpone the presidential election, but has pledged to participate in the congress on Friday and support its preferred candidate, Prince Ali. However, former Manchester United chief executive David Gill has said he will not take up his place as FIFA vice-president if Blatter does win the vote.
“David Gill stood up and said he won’t take up his seat, that was the big thing,” said Delaney. “I think it was very brave and very honest of him and there was a good round of applause, people thought ‘that’s a man of honour’. From his own personal perspective he doesn’t want to serve under Blatter and you have to respect that position. “There wasn’t a vote taken but Michel Platini will tell you UEFA is unified, whether all 53 transfer their votes over I don’t know, I think one or two will be lost along the way.” Blatter had released a statement on Thursday welcoming the probe into widespread corruption at football’s governing body, but has yet to be seen publicly since the dawn raids in Switzerland. Seven football officials were arrested in Zurich on Wednesday and detained pending extradition to the United States over suspected corruption at FIFA, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FCOJ) said in a statement.
14 people have been charged by the US authorities with racketeering, fraud and money laundering. The New York Times said they were high-ranking FIFA officials and were in Switzerland for the FIFA Congress where incumbent Mr Blatter faces a challenge from Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in the presidential election. The arrests were made by plain-clothed police officers who took room keys from the reception of the five-star Baur Au Lac hotel, where officials were staying, with FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb among those arrested.